For example, Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 6-233359 (1994) discloses a control unit as a conventional device setting apparatus. This control unit is applied to a remote control device for letting the operator input a voice identical to that having a pattern previously stored in an internal memory thereby outputting a control command with respect to the input voice to a controlled device without operating any key of the remote control device and remote-controlling the controlled device with the voice.
However, the aforementioned control unit can execute only a single control command with respect to a single voice. In order to set the controlled device to a target device state, therefore, the operator must repeatedly raise his voice for setting various states of the controlled device one by one. Further, a recent electronic device such as a television receiver is so multi-functional that set states of the device are extremely complicated, and hence extremely complicated operations are required for setting the device, leading to deterioration of operability in particular.